A BASIC CW OPERATING MANUAL

Compiled by Dan Stegner KC0OBU from FISTS CW Club member tips

You are ready to make that first contact. Your palms may be sweating and
your heart rate may be racing. That's ok. We've all been there. The first
time I called CQ I was very nervous. I didn't think it was possible for
fingers to have a stuttering problem but there I was, stuttering with my
fingers. Gradually I relaxed and calmed down. The CQ's flowed from my
fingertips with fluidity before sailing skyward. "Hey, this is really fun," I
thought to myself. Suddenly, the inevitable happened; somebody actually
answered! The anxiety returned. "Now, what do I do?" Here is some help with
establishing that first contact.

Answering CQ

Let's suppose you're tuning across the bands and you hear a station calling
CQ. The station seems to be sending at a speed you can copy: CQ CQ CQ DE
WA3XYZ K

To answer WA3XYZ you just send the following: WA3XYZ DE (your
callsign—lets use mine, KC0OBU, for our examples) AR

That's all there is to it. AR is the letters A and R sent with no spaces in
between, a procedural signal that means "end of messasge" or "over." If the
band is noisy or you are running low power, you may want to repeat your call
sign twice like so: WA3XYZ DE KC0OBU KC0OBU AR

This is a '1x2'. The other station's call sent once, and your sent twice.
This allows the other station to doublecheck to make sure they got your call
right.

If WA3XYZ was able to copy you, that station will then come back with
something like:

KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ TNX FER CALL UR RST 559 IN...

If WA3XYZ only copied part of your call sign, you may hear one of the
following. The station may or may not add DE WA3XYZ depending on the
situation:

QRZ?

(Who's calling me?)

? ?

(Who's there?)

KC?

(KC something....didn't get the rest of your call sign.)

OBU?

(Got the suffix, but I missed the prefix)

In this case, just send your call sign again.

Calling CQ

If the band seems to be in good shape, but nobody is calling CQ, you can do
the following:

Find a frequency that seems to be clear, and listen for a few seconds.
Listening is very important.

If you don't hear anything, send QRL? and listen for a bit more.
Make sure you listen slightly up and down from your transmitting frequency
as well. QRL is a Q signal that means this frequency is in use.
When you send QRL? you are asking if the frequency is in use.
If somebody comes back with C, YES, or QRL, then move to
another frequency so you don't interfere. No further response is needed.

If you did not hear a response, send QRL? again and listen again.
Some stations may take a bit to respond.

Still nothing? You can assume the frequency is clear. Immediately send
your CQ while the frequency is still open.

The 3x2 CQ call seems to work well for most situations. Call CQ three times,
and then send your call twice: CQ CQ CQ DE KC0OBU KC0OBU K

The final K at the end means you're inviting any station to answer you.

After calling CQ, listen, listen, listen. Listen slightly up and down in
case the station trying to answer you is slightly off frequency. You can miss
a return call if you are not listening carefully. If you hear nothing, send
another 3x2 CQ call again, and listen. Repeat until either somebody answers or
you want to try in another spot. Pretty easy, huh?

The QSO

Basically there are three parts to a QSO: The introduction, the middle, and
the conclusion. Almost sounds like a term paper. Let's take a look at each of
these parts.

The Introduction

Once a CQ is answered, the stations first exchange three important pieces of
information: RST (a signal report), QTH (location), and Name. So let's
suppose I am calling CQ and WA3XYZ answers me. I would then send something
like this:

First I send the other station's call, then DE (which means from) and then
my call sign. Then I say good morning (GM), afternoon (GA), evening (GE). or
night (GN), whichever is appropriate. Next I say thanks for the call (TNX CALL)
and give the RST signal report (UR 559). I then send my QTH or location
followed by my name. You can send 'QTH' instead of 'IN'. But don't send 'MY
QTH IS' because that would be redundant....sort of like saying 'MY MY LOCATION
IS IS'.

'HW?' is short for 'How are you copying me?". Then I send AR (Over or End of
Transmission), WA3XYZ DE KC0OBU (So other stations listening will know who we
are) and KN which says go ahead to a specific station, which in this example is
WA3XYZ.

The other station will then reply back with its information by sending
something like the following: KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ R GM DAN NICE TO MEET U UR RST
579 579 QTH PITTSBURGH, PA PITSBURGH, PA NAME PHIL PHIL HW? AR KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ
KN

The R sent after the initial call signs means that the other station copied
EVERYTHING that you sent. Don't send R and then ask the other station to
repeat part of the information that was sent. It's bad form.

If you need the other station to repeat something send 'PSE RPT NAME', or
'RST', or 'QTH', etc. You can also send something like 'NAME?' or 'RST?' in
your next transmission, and the other station should understand.

The Middle

Now, you chat back and forth about whatever you want: the weather, sports,
your rigs, antennas, etc., using a format like the following: WA3XYZ DE KC0OBU
R blah, blah, blah, AR WA3XYZ DE KC0OBU KN

Then the other station has a turn: KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ R blah, blah, blah, AR
KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ KN

Technically, you don't have to send both call signs with each transmission.
Some stations just send BK (back to you) at the end of a transmission and then
legally identify the station every 10 minutes. Other stations will send both
calls with each transmission so those listening will know who they are.

The Conclusion

I thank Phil for a nice QSO, say hope to see you later (HPE CUL), send best
wishes (73), and good morning (GM). The SK procedure signal means that's all I
have. Similar to AR except it is only used in the final transmission from your
station. Phil will then send his final transmission: KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ R FB DAN
TNX QSO 73 SK KC0OBU DE WA3XYZ CL

The CL means that Phil is going to be closing his station and won't be
answering any more calls. Phil could also end his call with a "dit dit". I
would respond with a single dit.

Ending a QSO with the dit dit—dit, or the 'shave and a haircut...two
bits' is a friendly way of acknowledging that the QSO has ended and you enjoyed
the chat. It started back before anyone can remember with one Ham sending
'shave and a haircut'—dahdididahdit—and the other station
completing it with 'two bits'—dit dit. It has shortened over the decades
to stations sending 'dit dit' and 'dit'.

Please don't fall into the habit of pluralizing. There is no need to send
"73s". 73 by itself means "best wishes"; it is not proper to send 73s or 'best
wisheses'.

Another tip to remember is that most Procedural Signs (like QTH) already
mean phrases, and are intended to reduce the amount of sending you need to do
to make your point. You don't need to use extra words when using prosigns like
QTH. QTH PA is sufficient, not MY QTH IS....